Davidson County, NC Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

06(A) of the Davidson County Code of Ordinances encourages, without mandating, every person who owns, leases, or manages a residence, business, institution, church, or school to remove recyclable material from the solid waste stream and make it available for recycling; the section adds that nothing stops a resident from donating or selling recyclables to someone else instead of using the county's program. 06(B) requires it to be kept separate from other solid waste and prepared to specific standards: glass must be rinsed by color; metal cans other than aluminum must be rinsed, have both ends cut out, have the paper label removed, and be flattened, while aluminum cans need only be rinsed and flattened; plastic milk jugs and soft-drink bottles must be rinsed, caps removed, and flattened or crushed; corrugated cardboard (sandwich-type only, no pizza boxes, single-ply, or waxed boxes) must be flattened; and newsprint must be bundled, not tied, and kept dry and out of plastic bags.

06(C), prepared material goes into the designated recycling containers the county provides at drop-off centers, since Davidson County runs no curbside recycling bin program. 06(D) then fixes ownership: once recyclable material is placed in a county drop-off container, it becomes the property of the county or its authorized agent, and no one other than a county employee or authorized agent may remove material from a designated container at a collection center. 99 for violations such as scavenging a drop-off container.